ASUS is facing a major consumer backlash in several Western markets, after the Company chose to continue supplying their Russian retailers and distributors with notebooks, monitors and PC hardware, also facing problems is Lenovo who are the #1 PC brand in Russia.
Late last week Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, posted a letter to Asus Chairman Jonny Shih via Twitter Thursday, asking him to stop doing business with Russia until “the Russian aggression in Ukraine is fully stopped and fair order is restored.”.
He had already requested Lenovo to stop supplying to Russia.
So far ASUS management have failed to respond to the call with insiders telling ChannelNews that the business “will lose a lot of market share” in Western markets including Europe, the USA and Australia if they do not pull out of Russia.
Dell, Microsoft along with several other PC suppliers have chosen to stop supplying goods to Russia following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Fedorov, called on ASUS to stop relationships with Russia-based clients and partners and no longer supply them with hardware and electronics or provide technical support a move that most major Companies are going along with.
Asus said last night that it would “not respond at this time”.
Other brands that at this stage have refused to announce a ban on supplying products to Russia are Chinese brands TP Link, Lenovo, Oppo, Hisense, Haier who own Fisher & Paykel as well as Realme, Vivo smartphones.
Also supporting Russia is Chinese brand Xiaomi and Ninebot who are a major supplier of products to retailers in Australia.
Ninebot owns the Sedgeway scooter brand.
One local Ukrainian source who is a senior executive in the IT industry suggested that retailers in Australia should stop selling ASUS and Lenovo notebooks in Australia, in protest at the move to continue supplying Russian consumers, including Russian Defence and Government departments with notebooks and PC hardware.
A Taiwanese investment consultant estimates that Russia accounted for a significant share of ASUS’s sales.
The Russian PC market grew in the 4th quarter of 2021 by 10.7% in unit terms compared to the same period in 2020.
In total, 1.9 million desktop and laptop PCs were delivered, according to IDC.
The growth was due to entry-level and mid-range models, sold into the market in November-December 2021.
In the last quarter Lenovo had 18.5% of the market and ASUS 15.6%.
